United Kingdom Travel Guide
Area : 244 820 km² .
The United Kingdom (UK) consists of England, Wales, Scotland (who together make up Great Britain) and Northern Ireland.
Population : 60.4 million
The English account for more than 80% of the population. The Scots make up nearly 10% and the Welsh and Northern Irish most of the rest. The UK is also home to diverse immigrant communities, mainly from its former colonies in the West Indies, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Africa.
Capital : London is the capital of the United Kingdom and England. The City of London is a world centre for financial services.
Language : The UK does not de jure have an official language but the predominant spoken language is English.
Climate : The climate of the United Kingdom is classified as a mid-latitude oceanic climate, with warm summers, cool winters and plentiful precipitation throughout the year.
Religion : The official religion in Britain is Christianity as practised by the Anglican Church. Followers of this branch of Christianity are known as Protestants and make up the majority of the population, although there are also many Catholics. other religions, including; Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Sikhism are freely practised.
Political system : The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The main chamber of parliament is the lower house, the House of Commons, which has 646 members elected by universal suffrage. About 700 people are eligible to sit in the upper house, the House of Lords, including life peers, hereditary peers, and bishops. There is a Scottish parliament in Edinburgh with wide-ranging local powers, and a Welsh Assembly in Cardiff which has more limited authority for Welsh affairs but can legislate in some areas.
The economy - one of the largest in the EU - is increasingly services-based although it maintains industrial capacity in high-tech and other sectors.